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6 Offbeat Reasons Why Vinyl Is Better Than Digital

WE’VE all heard the arguments why vinyl or digital music is best – no need to beat a dead horse. It is this author’s humble opinion that vinyl wins by a landslide due to analog sound superiority and the customer satisfaction of owning something tangible. But that is neither here nor there. Instead, let’s look at a few minor points that belong in vinyl’s “win column”.

1. The Joy of Looking

Nothing can beat the joy of perusing the shelves of Ye Olde Record Store. Whether you were on a mission, or just hoping for a serendipitous find, it was an enjoyable endeavor all around. Plus, the record store was often a hangout and so there was a social element to the process as well.

Then there’s the thrill of the hunt. I spent over a decade looking for a particular LP (the name of which I won’t reveal to spare myself grave embarrassment) and never found it…. That is, until the digital music revolution arrived and I found it in two mouse clicks.

Am I better off? I’ve got the lousy album now, but the thrill is gone.

2. Bizarre Covers

Digital music can certainly be every bit as strange as music from an LP, but you don’t have that added visual element. Things could get downright scary as evidenced by the album above. This cover will haunt my dreams for years to come… You can’t say that about an mp3 file.

3. Music Preservation

Ever heard of the group Octavian? Me neither, but I have a hard copy of their work and will until perpetuity. Sure, all things must pass (so sayeth George Harrison), and my record will one day go bye-bye. However, the inherent tangibility of the record versus the nothingness of a media file gives my music the edge to stand the test of time rather than ending up in the recycle bin.

Consider vinyl the fossil record of music history.

4. Vinyl Oddities

Back in the day, they’d make an album about anything. Whether it was proclaiming the glories of dry cleaning or singing about the divine nature of plants, it seemed every odd notion found its way onto vinyl.

Thus, any album collection worth its salt is bound to have a few “conversation pieces.” It might be the album where Muhammad Ali teaches us about tooth decay, or it might be the one with bawdy sailor songs – whatever the case, the wonderful strangeness of these old LPs inject some fun into a music collection. A similarly eclectic list of digital music files just doesn’t have the same “zing”.

5. Cheesecake

There’s no denying a huge number of albums were sold based on one factor alone: the cheesecake on the cover. The EZ listening tracks on the inside may fall flat as a damp squib, but the babe on the cover more than makes up for it.

Obviously, the cheesecake factor isn’t an option for digital music. Such a pity.

6. The Ritual

There’s no ritual to digital music. You open your playlist of 1.2 billion songs, then click “play”. Done.

With vinyl there was a very real ritual. You took the record from its sleeve, placed it gently on the turntable, let the needle hit the groove and waited for the crackle and pop. Then it was sweet, sweet analog music.

“With vinyl there was a very real ritual. You took the record from its
sleeve, placed it gently on the turntable, let the needle hit the groove
and waited for the crackle and pop. Then it was sweet, sweet analog
music.”

Revisionist rubbish. It was music, interspersed with clicks, cracks, pops, hiss, and the occasional iconic moment of the repeated segment when the needle refused to advance and the passage repeated ad-infinitum due to that dirty great scratch caused when the cat decided the tone arm was prey to be played with – stuck record, stuck record, stuck record, stuck record…

If you actually wanted to listen to the music and not the imperfections of the medium, you had to first carefully zap the disc with an anti-static gun, then get the carbon fiber brush and using a masterful technique channeling a lot of zen, you would carefully place the brush on the rotating record’s surface, holding it steady with just the barest of contact pressure, and watch the white line of dust, coke if you were rich, cat hair and whatnot pile up along the brush. Then you would carefully and slowly sweep the brush in towards the center, trying all the while not to lose your filthy payload. Wipe the brush on the furniture then repeat a couple more times. Then finally, you would expectantly lower the needle to the beginning of the groove, take your seat and then marvel at how even with your best impression of obsessive-compulsive behaviour, there was still crap in the grooves giving you clicks, cracks, pops, and a bit of music thrown in just to taunt you with what might have been.

F-that, you are welcome to it. Don’t miss it in the slightest, neither did the vast majority of people who gave vinyl the flick and bought CD’s instead. Millions of people had a choice. If they had found the sound and ritual from CDs to be inferior they would have stuck with vinyl and CDs would have gone the way of the elcassette and the video laser disc.

“It is this author’s humble opinion that…”

That, sunshine, is what’s called humbug. Shut your eyes and bend over, I have a present for you I just know you are going to love…

And at the end of the day, an iPhone will sound better than that and all it’s overpriced brethren.

Brad Conrad

It took a very long time for CDs to reach the anything near the quality of vinyl. If you have an old CD from their first decade give it a listen. It sounds only a little better than one of those early mp3s. They got the bit to frequency assignment all wrong and were using far too little of the available bits to describe the high end and too much to wasted in the low end. Classical music fans liked CDs because of the low noise floor on all digital recordings so the quiet passages were really quiet.

At one record store where I bought music they would, for an extra 25 cents, clean the factory dust off your record with this record shampooing vacuum machine and give you an anti static sleeve. You did this in store right after buying the album. I still have those records and 30 years later there is not a crackle or pop on one of them.
I wont argue the convenience of digital medium and the configurability of the players. That has its place for sure, but there is value in listening to an record all the way through in order and, all things being equal, the sound quality of vinyl is undeniably better.

Karen

I have New Order’s Temptation on 12″ vinyl and, I’m no sound quality expert, but it sounds far, far better than the version on a compilation CD I bought.

Brad Conrad

12″ singles had wider grooves and played at 45rpm thus upping the sound quality that much more.

Karen

With vinyl, you listened to every track because it was easier than keep getting up to move the needle.

I found that a lot of the songs I didn’t like at first grew on me. These days I would just skip to the next one without persevering.

The Real Stig

Absolutely.

Being forced to listen to an album in toto and in sequence gets old. I recently bought an Apple Airport Extreme. It is plugged into my HiFi and I can stream my music losslessly from my Laptop to the HiFi and I can control the volume from the Laptop. I can have playlists for different occasions or moods, have tracks played back randomly, I can tune in to Internet radio stations and have those streamed to the HiFi. The convenience and flexibility of this is terrific.

The only thing vinyl had going for it was the size of the album art – something I really don’t miss as it was peripheral and of low importance for me compared to the music.

Rand Cabus

Obviously Stig, you don’t get it. But that’s OK. Stick with your digital convenience, we’ll enjoy our vinyl. I actually have (3) Airport Extremes and (4) turntables through out the house. But I enjoy putting on record and listening to every song the band wrote. Again not for everyone…

Karen

Also, I don’t know what’s available these days, but record collectors wanted every version of singles and albums. Some had different versions for different countries so they wanted all the imports. I remember we all got excited if someone got hold of a picture disc. Memories 🙂

Yampster

As someone who listens to everything through two NHS hearing aids manufactured and supplied by the lowest bidder, I can confirm that both sides of this argument are talking bollocks. There are no crackles or pops in my world 😉

Karen

What about snaps?

Yampster

Never heard of ’em

Mpaster68

I never will forget the first time I fired up my old LP record player and played an album for my kids (The Byrds). They were astounded by the sound quality. You also may recall that many albums opened like a book and had lots of great photos and stuff on the inside covers.

The Real Stig

“With vinyl there was a very real ritual. You took the record from its
sleeve, placed it gently on the turntable, let the needle hit the groove
and waited for the crackle and pop. Then it was sweet, sweet analog
music.”

Revisionist rubbish. It was music, interspersed with clicks, cracks, pops, hiss, and the occasional iconic moment of the repeated segment when the needle refused to advance and the passage repeated ad-infinitum due to that dirty great scratch caused when the cat decided the tone arm was prey to be played with – stuck record, stuck record, stuck record, stuck record…

If you actually wanted to listen to the music and not the imperfections of the medium, you had to first carefully zap the disc with an anti-static gun, then get the carbon fiber brush and using a masterful technique channeling a lot of zen, you would carefully place the brush on the rotating record’s surface, holding it steady with just the barest of contact pressure, and watch the white line of dust, coke if you were rich, cat hair and whatnot pile up along the brush. Then you would carefully and slowly sweep the brush in towards the center, trying all the while not to lose your filthy payload. Wipe the brush on the furniture then repeat a couple more times. Then finally, you would expectantly lower the needle to the beginning of the groove, take your seat and then marvel at how even with your best impression of obsessive-compulsive behaviour, there was still crap in the grooves giving you clicks, cracks, pops, and a bit of music thrown in just to taunt you with what might have been.

F-that, you are welcome to it. Don’t miss it in the slightest, neither did the vast majority of people who gave vinyl the flick and bought CD’s instead. Millions of people had a choice. If they had found the sound and ritual from CDs to be inferior they would have stuck with vinyl and CDs would have gone the way of the elcassette and the video laser disc.

“It is this author’s humble opinion that…”

That, sunshine, is what’s called humbug. Shut your eyes and bend over, I have a present for you I just know you are going to love…

And at the end of the day, an iPhone will sound better than that and all it’s overpriced brethren.

Brad Conrad

It took a very long time for CDs to reach the anything near the quality of vinyl. If you have an old CD from their first decade give it a listen. It sounds only a little better than one of those early mp3s. They got the bit to frequency assignment all wrong and were using far too little of the available bits to describe the high end and too much to wasted in the low end. Classical music fans liked CDs because of the low noise floor on all digital recordings so the quiet passages were really quiet.

At one record store where I bought music they would, for an extra 25 cents, clean the factory dust off your record with this record shampooing vacuum machine and give you an anti static sleeve. You did this in store right after buying the album. I still have those records and 30 years later there is not a crackle or pop on one of them.
I wont argue the convenience of digital medium and the configurability of the players. That has its place for sure, but there is value in listening to an record all the way through in order and, all things being equal, the sound quality of vinyl is undeniably better.

Karen

I have New Order’s Temptation on 12″ vinyl and, I’m no sound quality expert, but it sounds far, far better than the version on a compilation CD I bought.

Brad Conrad

12″ singles had wider grooves and played at 45rpm thus upping the sound quality that much more.

Karen

With vinyl, you listened to every track because it was easier than keep getting up to move the needle.

I found that a lot of the songs I didn’t like at first grew on me. These days I would just skip to the next one without persevering.

The Real Stig

Absolutely.

Being forced to listen to an album in toto and in sequence gets old. I recently bought an Apple Airport Extreme. It is plugged into my HiFi and I can stream my music losslessly from my Laptop to the HiFi and I can control the volume from the Laptop. I can have playlists for different occasions or moods, have tracks played back randomly, I can tune in to Internet radio stations and have those streamed to the HiFi. The convenience and flexibility of this is terrific.

The only thing vinyl had going for it was the size of the album art – something I really don’t miss as it was peripheral and of low importance for me compared to the music.

Rand Cabus

Obviously Stig, you don’t get it. But that’s OK. Stick with your digital convenience, we’ll enjoy our vinyl. I actually have (3) Airport Extremes and (4) turntables through out the house. But I enjoy putting on record and listening to every song the band wrote. Again not for everyone…

Karen

Also, I don’t know what’s available these days, but record collectors wanted every version of singles and albums. Some had different versions for different countries so they wanted all the imports. I remember we all got excited if someone got hold of a picture disc. Memories 🙂

Yampster

As someone who listens to everything through two NHS hearing aids manufactured and supplied by the lowest bidder, I can confirm that both sides of this argument are talking bollocks. There are no crackles or pops in my world 😉

Karen

What about snaps?

Yampster

Never heard of ’em

Mpaster68

I never will forget the first time I fired up my old LP record player and played an album for my kids (The Byrds). They were astounded by the sound quality. You also may recall that many albums opened like a book and had lots of great photos and stuff on the inside covers.

The Real Stig

“With vinyl there was a very real ritual. You took the record from its
sleeve, placed it gently on the turntable, let the needle hit the groove
and waited for the crackle and pop. Then it was sweet, sweet analog
music.”

Revisionist rubbish. It was music, interspersed with clicks, cracks, pops, hiss, and the occasional iconic moment of the repeated segment when the needle refused to advance and the passage repeated ad-infinitum due to that dirty great scratch caused when the cat decided the tone arm was prey to be played with – stuck record, stuck record, stuck record, stuck record…

If you actually wanted to listen to the music and not the imperfections of the medium, you had to first carefully zap the disc with an anti-static gun, then get the carbon fiber brush and using a masterful technique channeling a lot of zen, you would carefully place the brush on the rotating record’s surface, holding it steady with just the barest of contact pressure, and watch the white line of dust, coke if you were rich, cat hair and whatnot pile up along the brush. Then you would carefully and slowly sweep the brush in towards the center, trying all the while not to lose your filthy payload. Wipe the brush on the furniture then repeat a couple more times. Then finally, you would expectantly lower the needle to the beginning of the groove, take your seat and then marvel at how even with your best impression of obsessive-compulsive behaviour, there was still crap in the grooves giving you clicks, cracks, pops, and a bit of music thrown in just to taunt you with what might have been.

F-that, you are welcome to it. Don’t miss it in the slightest, neither did the vast majority of people who gave vinyl the flick and bought CD’s instead. Millions of people had a choice. If they had found the sound and ritual from CDs to be inferior they would have stuck with vinyl and CDs would have gone the way of the elcassette and the video laser disc.

“It is this author’s humble opinion that…”

That, sunshine, is what’s called humbug. Shut your eyes and bend over, I have a present for you I just know you are going to love…

And at the end of the day, an iPhone will sound better than that and all it’s overpriced brethren.

Brad Conrad

It took a very long time for CDs to reach the anything near the quality of vinyl. If you have an old CD from their first decade give it a listen. It sounds only a little better than one of those early mp3s. They got the bit to frequency assignment all wrong and were using far too little of the available bits to describe the high end and too much to wasted in the low end. Classical music fans liked CDs because of the low noise floor on all digital recordings so the quiet passages were really quiet.

At one record store where I bought music they would, for an extra 25 cents, clean the factory dust off your record with this record shampooing vacuum machine and give you an anti static sleeve. You did this in store right after buying the album. I still have those records and 30 years later there is not a crackle or pop on one of them.
I wont argue the convenience of digital medium and the configurability of the players. That has its place for sure, but there is value in listening to an record all the way through in order and, all things being equal, the sound quality of vinyl is undeniably better.

Karen

I have New Order’s Temptation on 12″ vinyl and, I’m no sound quality expert, but it sounds far, far better than the version on a compilation CD I bought.

Brad Conrad

12″ singles had wider grooves and played at 45rpm thus upping the sound quality that much more.

Karen

With vinyl, you listened to every track because it was easier than keep getting up to move the needle.

I found that a lot of the songs I didn’t like at first grew on me. These days I would just skip to the next one without persevering.

The Real Stig

Absolutely.

Being forced to listen to an album in toto and in sequence gets old. I recently bought an Apple Airport Extreme. It is plugged into my HiFi and I can stream my music losslessly from my Laptop to the HiFi and I can control the volume from the Laptop. I can have playlists for different occasions or moods, have tracks played back randomly, I can tune in to Internet radio stations and have those streamed to the HiFi. The convenience and flexibility of this is terrific.

The only thing vinyl had going for it was the size of the album art – something I really don’t miss as it was peripheral and of low importance for me compared to the music.

Rand Cabus

Obviously Stig, you don’t get it. But that’s OK. Stick with your digital convenience, we’ll enjoy our vinyl. I actually have (3) Airport Extremes and (4) turntables through out the house. But I enjoy putting on record and listening to every song the band wrote. Again not for everyone…

Karen

Also, I don’t know what’s available these days, but record collectors wanted every version of singles and albums. Some had different versions for different countries so they wanted all the imports. I remember we all got excited if someone got hold of a picture disc. Memories 🙂

Yampster

As someone who listens to everything through two NHS hearing aids manufactured and supplied by the lowest bidder, I can confirm that both sides of this argument are talking bollocks. There are no crackles or pops in my world 😉

Karen

What about snaps?

Yampster

Never heard of ’em

Mpaster68

I never will forget the first time I fired up my old LP record player and played an album for my kids (The Byrds). They were astounded by the sound quality. You also may recall that many albums opened like a book and had lots of great photos and stuff on the inside covers.

The Real Stig

“With vinyl there was a very real ritual. You took the record from its
sleeve, placed it gently on the turntable, let the needle hit the groove
and waited for the crackle and pop. Then it was sweet, sweet analog
music.”

Revisionist rubbish. It was music, interspersed with clicks, cracks, pops, hiss, and the occasional iconic moment of the repeated segment when the needle refused to advance and the passage repeated ad-infinitum due to that dirty great scratch caused when the cat decided the tone arm was prey to be played with – stuck record, stuck record, stuck record, stuck record…

If you actually wanted to listen to the music and not the imperfections of the medium, you had to first carefully zap the disc with an anti-static gun, then get the carbon fiber brush and using a masterful technique channeling a lot of zen, you would carefully place the brush on the rotating record’s surface, holding it steady with just the barest of contact pressure, and watch the white line of dust, coke if you were rich, cat hair and whatnot pile up along the brush. Then you would carefully and slowly sweep the brush in towards the center, trying all the while not to lose your filthy payload. Wipe the brush on the furniture then repeat a couple more times. Then finally, you would expectantly lower the needle to the beginning of the groove, take your seat and then marvel at how even with your best impression of obsessive-compulsive behaviour, there was still crap in the grooves giving you clicks, cracks, pops, and a bit of music thrown in just to taunt you with what might have been.

F-that, you are welcome to it. Don’t miss it in the slightest, neither did the vast majority of people who gave vinyl the flick and bought CD’s instead. Millions of people had a choice. If they had found the sound and ritual from CDs to be inferior they would have stuck with vinyl and CDs would have gone the way of the elcassette and the video laser disc.

“It is this author’s humble opinion that…”

That, sunshine, is what’s called humbug. Shut your eyes and bend over, I have a present for you I just know you are going to love…

And at the end of the day, an iPhone will sound better than that and all it’s overpriced brethren.

Brad Conrad

It took a very long time for CDs to reach the anything near the quality of vinyl. If you have an old CD from their first decade give it a listen. It sounds only a little better than one of those early mp3s. They got the bit to frequency assignment all wrong and were using far too little of the available bits to describe the high end and too much to wasted in the low end. Classical music fans liked CDs because of the low noise floor on all digital recordings so the quiet passages were really quiet.

At one record store where I bought music they would, for an extra 25 cents, clean the factory dust off your record with this record shampooing vacuum machine and give you an anti static sleeve. You did this in store right after buying the album. I still have those records and 30 years later there is not a crackle or pop on one of them.
I wont argue the convenience of digital medium and the configurability of the players. That has its place for sure, but there is value in listening to an record all the way through in order and, all things being equal, the sound quality of vinyl is undeniably better.

Karen

I have New Order’s Temptation on 12″ vinyl and, I’m no sound quality expert, but it sounds far, far better than the version on a compilation CD I bought.

Brad Conrad

12″ singles had wider grooves and played at 45rpm thus upping the sound quality that much more.

Karen

With vinyl, you listened to every track because it was easier than keep getting up to move the needle.

I found that a lot of the songs I didn’t like at first grew on me. These days I would just skip to the next one without persevering.

The Real Stig

Absolutely.

Being forced to listen to an album in toto and in sequence gets old. I recently bought an Apple Airport Extreme. It is plugged into my HiFi and I can stream my music losslessly from my Laptop to the HiFi and I can control the volume from the Laptop. I can have playlists for different occasions or moods, have tracks played back randomly, I can tune in to Internet radio stations and have those streamed to the HiFi. The convenience and flexibility of this is terrific.

The only thing vinyl had going for it was the size of the album art – something I really don’t miss as it was peripheral and of low importance for me compared to the music.

Rand Cabus

Obviously Stig, you don’t get it. But that’s OK. Stick with your digital convenience, we’ll enjoy our vinyl. I actually have (3) Airport Extremes and (4) turntables through out the house. But I enjoy putting on record and listening to every song the band wrote. Again not for everyone…

Karen

Also, I don’t know what’s available these days, but record collectors wanted every version of singles and albums. Some had different versions for different countries so they wanted all the imports. I remember we all got excited if someone got hold of a picture disc. Memories 🙂

Yampster

As someone who listens to everything through two NHS hearing aids manufactured and supplied by the lowest bidder, I can confirm that both sides of this argument are talking bollocks. There are no crackles or pops in my world 😉

Karen

What about snaps?

Yampster

Never heard of ’em

Mpaster68

I never will forget the first time I fired up my old LP record player and played an album for my kids (The Byrds). They were astounded by the sound quality. You also may recall that many albums opened like a book and had lots of great photos and stuff on the inside covers.

The Real Stig

“With vinyl there was a very real ritual. You took the record from its
sleeve, placed it gently on the turntable, let the needle hit the groove
and waited for the crackle and pop. Then it was sweet, sweet analog
music.”

Revisionist rubbish. It was music, interspersed with clicks, cracks, pops, hiss, and the occasional iconic moment of the repeated segment when the needle refused to advance and the passage repeated ad-infinitum due to that dirty great scratch caused when the cat decided the tone arm was prey to be played with – stuck record, stuck record, stuck record, stuck record…

If you actually wanted to listen to the music and not the imperfections of the medium, you had to first carefully zap the disc with an anti-static gun, then get the carbon fiber brush and using a masterful technique channeling a lot of zen, you would carefully place the brush on the rotating record’s surface, holding it steady with just the barest of contact pressure, and watch the white line of dust, coke if you were rich, cat hair and whatnot pile up along the brush. Then you would carefully and slowly sweep the brush in towards the center, trying all the while not to lose your filthy payload. Wipe the brush on the furniture then repeat a couple more times. Then finally, you would expectantly lower the needle to the beginning of the groove, take your seat and then marvel at how even with your best impression of obsessive-compulsive behaviour, there was still crap in the grooves giving you clicks, cracks, pops, and a bit of music thrown in just to taunt you with what might have been.

F-that, you are welcome to it. Don’t miss it in the slightest, neither did the vast majority of people who gave vinyl the flick and bought CD’s instead. Millions of people had a choice. If they had found the sound and ritual from CDs to be inferior they would have stuck with vinyl and CDs would have gone the way of the elcassette and the video laser disc.

“It is this author’s humble opinion that…”

That, sunshine, is what’s called humbug. Shut your eyes and bend over, I have a present for you I just know you are going to love…

And at the end of the day, an iPhone will sound better than that and all it’s overpriced brethren.

Brad Conrad

It took a very long time for CDs to reach the anything near the quality of vinyl. If you have an old CD from their first decade give it a listen. It sounds only a little better than one of those early mp3s. They got the bit to frequency assignment all wrong and were using far too little of the available bits to describe the high end and too much to wasted in the low end. Classical music fans liked CDs because of the low noise floor on all digital recordings so the quiet passages were really quiet.

At one record store where I bought music they would, for an extra 25 cents, clean the factory dust off your record with this record shampooing vacuum machine and give you an anti static sleeve. You did this in store right after buying the album. I still have those records and 30 years later there is not a crackle or pop on one of them.
I wont argue the convenience of digital medium and the configurability of the players. That has its place for sure, but there is value in listening to an record all the way through in order and, all things being equal, the sound quality of vinyl is undeniably better.

Karen

I have New Order’s Temptation on 12″ vinyl and, I’m no sound quality expert, but it sounds far, far better than the version on a compilation CD I bought.

Brad Conrad

12″ singles had wider grooves and played at 45rpm thus upping the sound quality that much more.

Karen

With vinyl, you listened to every track because it was easier than keep getting up to move the needle.

I found that a lot of the songs I didn’t like at first grew on me. These days I would just skip to the next one without persevering.

The Real Stig

Absolutely.

Being forced to listen to an album in toto and in sequence gets old. I recently bought an Apple Airport Extreme. It is plugged into my HiFi and I can stream my music losslessly from my Laptop to the HiFi and I can control the volume from the Laptop. I can have playlists for different occasions or moods, have tracks played back randomly, I can tune in to Internet radio stations and have those streamed to the HiFi. The convenience and flexibility of this is terrific.

The only thing vinyl had going for it was the size of the album art – something I really don’t miss as it was peripheral and of low importance for me compared to the music.

Rand Cabus

Obviously Stig, you don’t get it. But that’s OK. Stick with your digital convenience, we’ll enjoy our vinyl. I actually have (3) Airport Extremes and (4) turntables through out the house. But I enjoy putting on record and listening to every song the band wrote. Again not for everyone…

Karen

Also, I don’t know what’s available these days, but record collectors wanted every version of singles and albums. Some had different versions for different countries so they wanted all the imports. I remember we all got excited if someone got hold of a picture disc. Memories 🙂

Yampster

As someone who listens to everything through two NHS hearing aids manufactured and supplied by the lowest bidder, I can confirm that both sides of this argument are talking bollocks. There are no crackles or pops in my world 😉

Karen

What about snaps?

Yampster

Never heard of ’em

Mpaster68

I never will forget the first time I fired up my old LP record player and played an album for my kids (The Byrds). They were astounded by the sound quality. You also may recall that many albums opened like a book and had lots of great photos and stuff on the inside covers.

The Real Stig

“With vinyl there was a very real ritual. You took the record from its
sleeve, placed it gently on the turntable, let the needle hit the groove
and waited for the crackle and pop. Then it was sweet, sweet analog
music.”

Revisionist rubbish. It was music, interspersed with clicks, cracks, pops, hiss, and the occasional iconic moment of the repeated segment when the needle refused to advance and the passage repeated ad-infinitum due to that dirty great scratch caused when the cat decided the tone arm was prey to be played with – stuck record, stuck record, stuck record, stuck record…

If you actually wanted to listen to the music and not the imperfections of the medium, you had to first carefully zap the disc with an anti-static gun, then get the carbon fiber brush and using a masterful technique channeling a lot of zen, you would carefully place the brush on the rotating record’s surface, holding it steady with just the barest of contact pressure, and watch the white line of dust, coke if you were rich, cat hair and whatnot pile up along the brush. Then you would carefully and slowly sweep the brush in towards the center, trying all the while not to lose your filthy payload. Wipe the brush on the furniture then repeat a couple more times. Then finally, you would expectantly lower the needle to the beginning of the groove, take your seat and then marvel at how even with your best impression of obsessive-compulsive behaviour, there was still crap in the grooves giving you clicks, cracks, pops, and a bit of music thrown in just to taunt you with what might have been.

F-that, you are welcome to it. Don’t miss it in the slightest, neither did the vast majority of people who gave vinyl the flick and bought CD’s instead. Millions of people had a choice. If they had found the sound and ritual from CDs to be inferior they would have stuck with vinyl and CDs would have gone the way of the elcassette and the video laser disc.

“It is this author’s humble opinion that…”

That, sunshine, is what’s called humbug. Shut your eyes and bend over, I have a present for you I just know you are going to love…

And at the end of the day, an iPhone will sound better than that and all it’s overpriced brethren.

Brad Conrad

It took a very long time for CDs to reach the anything near the quality of vinyl. If you have an old CD from their first decade give it a listen. It sounds only a little better than one of those early mp3s. They got the bit to frequency assignment all wrong and were using far too little of the available bits to describe the high end and too much to wasted in the low end. Classical music fans liked CDs because of the low noise floor on all digital recordings so the quiet passages were really quiet.

At one record store where I bought music they would, for an extra 25 cents, clean the factory dust off your record with this record shampooing vacuum machine and give you an anti static sleeve. You did this in store right after buying the album. I still have those records and 30 years later there is not a crackle or pop on one of them.
I wont argue the convenience of digital medium and the configurability of the players. That has its place for sure, but there is value in listening to an record all the way through in order and, all things being equal, the sound quality of vinyl is undeniably better.

Karen

I have New Order’s Temptation on 12″ vinyl and, I’m no sound quality expert, but it sounds far, far better than the version on a compilation CD I bought.

Brad Conrad

12″ singles had wider grooves and played at 45rpm thus upping the sound quality that much more.

Karen

With vinyl, you listened to every track because it was easier than keep getting up to move the needle.

I found that a lot of the songs I didn’t like at first grew on me. These days I would just skip to the next one without persevering.

The Real Stig

Absolutely.

Being forced to listen to an album in toto and in sequence gets old. I recently bought an Apple Airport Extreme. It is plugged into my HiFi and I can stream my music losslessly from my Laptop to the HiFi and I can control the volume from the Laptop. I can have playlists for different occasions or moods, have tracks played back randomly, I can tune in to Internet radio stations and have those streamed to the HiFi. The convenience and flexibility of this is terrific.

The only thing vinyl had going for it was the size of the album art – something I really don’t miss as it was peripheral and of low importance for me compared to the music.

Rand Cabus

Obviously Stig, you don’t get it. But that’s OK. Stick with your digital convenience, we’ll enjoy our vinyl. I actually have (3) Airport Extremes and (4) turntables through out the house. But I enjoy putting on record and listening to every song the band wrote. Again not for everyone…

Karen

Also, I don’t know what’s available these days, but record collectors wanted every version of singles and albums. Some had different versions for different countries so they wanted all the imports. I remember we all got excited if someone got hold of a picture disc. Memories 🙂

Yampster

As someone who listens to everything through two NHS hearing aids manufactured and supplied by the lowest bidder, I can confirm that both sides of this argument are talking bollocks. There are no crackles or pops in my world 😉

Karen

What about snaps?

Yampster

Never heard of ’em

Mpaster68

I never will forget the first time I fired up my old LP record player and played an album for my kids (The Byrds). They were astounded by the sound quality. You also may recall that many albums opened like a book and had lots of great photos and stuff on the inside covers.

The Real Stig

“With vinyl there was a very real ritual. You took the record from its
sleeve, placed it gently on the turntable, let the needle hit the groove
and waited for the crackle and pop. Then it was sweet, sweet analog
music.”

Revisionist rubbish. It was music, interspersed with clicks, cracks, pops, hiss, and the occasional iconic moment of the repeated segment when the needle refused to advance and the passage repeated ad-infinitum due to that dirty great scratch caused when the cat decided the tone arm was prey to be played with – stuck record, stuck record, stuck record, stuck record…

If you actually wanted to listen to the music and not the imperfections of the medium, you had to first carefully zap the disc with an anti-static gun, then get the carbon fiber brush and using a masterful technique channeling a lot of zen, you would carefully place the brush on the rotating record’s surface, holding it steady with just the barest of contact pressure, and watch the white line of dust, coke if you were rich, cat hair and whatnot pile up along the brush. Then you would carefully and slowly sweep the brush in towards the center, trying all the while not to lose your filthy payload. Wipe the brush on the furniture then repeat a couple more times. Then finally, you would expectantly lower the needle to the beginning of the groove, take your seat and then marvel at how even with your best impression of obsessive-compulsive behaviour, there was still crap in the grooves giving you clicks, cracks, pops, and a bit of music thrown in just to taunt you with what might have been.

F-that, you are welcome to it. Don’t miss it in the slightest, neither did the vast majority of people who gave vinyl the flick and bought CD’s instead. Millions of people had a choice. If they had found the sound and ritual from CDs to be inferior they would have stuck with vinyl and CDs would have gone the way of the elcassette and the video laser disc.

“It is this author’s humble opinion that…”

That, sunshine, is what’s called humbug. Shut your eyes and bend over, I have a present for you I just know you are going to love…

And at the end of the day, an iPhone will sound better than that and all it’s overpriced brethren.

Brad Conrad

It took a very long time for CDs to reach the anything near the quality of vinyl. If you have an old CD from their first decade give it a listen. It sounds only a little better than one of those early mp3s. They got the bit to frequency assignment all wrong and were using far too little of the available bits to describe the high end and too much to wasted in the low end. Classical music fans liked CDs because of the low noise floor on all digital recordings so the quiet passages were really quiet.

At one record store where I bought music they would, for an extra 25 cents, clean the factory dust off your record with this record shampooing vacuum machine and give you an anti static sleeve. You did this in store right after buying the album. I still have those records and 30 years later there is not a crackle or pop on one of them.
I wont argue the convenience of digital medium and the configurability of the players. That has its place for sure, but there is value in listening to an record all the way through in order and, all things being equal, the sound quality of vinyl is undeniably better.

Karen

I have New Order’s Temptation on 12″ vinyl and, I’m no sound quality expert, but it sounds far, far better than the version on a compilation CD I bought.

Brad Conrad

12″ singles had wider grooves and played at 45rpm thus upping the sound quality that much more.

Karen

With vinyl, you listened to every track because it was easier than keep getting up to move the needle.

I found that a lot of the songs I didn’t like at first grew on me. These days I would just skip to the next one without persevering.

The Real Stig

Absolutely.

Being forced to listen to an album in toto and in sequence gets old. I recently bought an Apple Airport Extreme. It is plugged into my HiFi and I can stream my music losslessly from my Laptop to the HiFi and I can control the volume from the Laptop. I can have playlists for different occasions or moods, have tracks played back randomly, I can tune in to Internet radio stations and have those streamed to the HiFi. The convenience and flexibility of this is terrific.

The only thing vinyl had going for it was the size of the album art – something I really don’t miss as it was peripheral and of low importance for me compared to the music.

Rand Cabus

Obviously Stig, you don’t get it. But that’s OK. Stick with your digital convenience, we’ll enjoy our vinyl. I actually have (3) Airport Extremes and (4) turntables through out the house. But I enjoy putting on record and listening to every song the band wrote. Again not for everyone…

Karen

Also, I don’t know what’s available these days, but record collectors wanted every version of singles and albums. Some had different versions for different countries so they wanted all the imports. I remember we all got excited if someone got hold of a picture disc. Memories 🙂

Yampster

As someone who listens to everything through two NHS hearing aids manufactured and supplied by the lowest bidder, I can confirm that both sides of this argument are talking bollocks. There are no crackles or pops in my world 😉

Karen

What about snaps?

Yampster

Never heard of ’em

Mpaster68

I never will forget the first time I fired up my old LP record player and played an album for my kids (The Byrds). They were astounded by the sound quality. You also may recall that many albums opened like a book and had lots of great photos and stuff on the inside covers.

The Real Stig

“With vinyl there was a very real ritual. You took the record from its
sleeve, placed it gently on the turntable, let the needle hit the groove
and waited for the crackle and pop. Then it was sweet, sweet analog
music.”

Revisionist rubbish. It was music, interspersed with clicks, cracks, pops, hiss, and the occasional iconic moment of the repeated segment when the needle refused to advance and the passage repeated ad-infinitum due to that dirty great scratch caused when the cat decided the tone arm was prey to be played with – stuck record, stuck record, stuck record, stuck record…

If you actually wanted to listen to the music and not the imperfections of the medium, you had to first carefully zap the disc with an anti-static gun, then get the carbon fiber brush and using a masterful technique channeling a lot of zen, you would carefully place the brush on the rotating record’s surface, holding it steady with just the barest of contact pressure, and watch the white line of dust, coke if you were rich, cat hair and whatnot pile up along the brush. Then you would carefully and slowly sweep the brush in towards the center, trying all the while not to lose your filthy payload. Wipe the brush on the furniture then repeat a couple more times. Then finally, you would expectantly lower the needle to the beginning of the groove, take your seat and then marvel at how even with your best impression of obsessive-compulsive behaviour, there was still crap in the grooves giving you clicks, cracks, pops, and a bit of music thrown in just to taunt you with what might have been.

F-that, you are welcome to it. Don’t miss it in the slightest, neither did the vast majority of people who gave vinyl the flick and bought CD’s instead. Millions of people had a choice. If they had found the sound and ritual from CDs to be inferior they would have stuck with vinyl and CDs would have gone the way of the elcassette and the video laser disc.

“It is this author’s humble opinion that…”

That, sunshine, is what’s called humbug. Shut your eyes and bend over, I have a present for you I just know you are going to love…

And at the end of the day, an iPhone will sound better than that and all it’s overpriced brethren.

Brad Conrad

It took a very long time for CDs to reach the anything near the quality of vinyl. If you have an old CD from their first decade give it a listen. It sounds only a little better than one of those early mp3s. They got the bit to frequency assignment all wrong and were using far too little of the available bits to describe the high end and too much to wasted in the low end. Classical music fans liked CDs because of the low noise floor on all digital recordings so the quiet passages were really quiet.

At one record store where I bought music they would, for an extra 25 cents, clean the factory dust off your record with this record shampooing vacuum machine and give you an anti static sleeve. You did this in store right after buying the album. I still have those records and 30 years later there is not a crackle or pop on one of them.
I wont argue the convenience of digital medium and the configurability of the players. That has its place for sure, but there is value in listening to an record all the way through in order and, all things being equal, the sound quality of vinyl is undeniably better.

Karen

I have New Order’s Temptation on 12″ vinyl and, I’m no sound quality expert, but it sounds far, far better than the version on a compilation CD I bought.

Brad Conrad

12″ singles had wider grooves and played at 45rpm thus upping the sound quality that much more.

Karen

With vinyl, you listened to every track because it was easier than keep getting up to move the needle.

I found that a lot of the songs I didn’t like at first grew on me. These days I would just skip to the next one without persevering.

The Real Stig

Absolutely.

Being forced to listen to an album in toto and in sequence gets old. I recently bought an Apple Airport Extreme. It is plugged into my HiFi and I can stream my music losslessly from my Laptop to the HiFi and I can control the volume from the Laptop. I can have playlists for different occasions or moods, have tracks played back randomly, I can tune in to Internet radio stations and have those streamed to the HiFi. The convenience and flexibility of this is terrific.

The only thing vinyl had going for it was the size of the album art – something I really don’t miss as it was peripheral and of low importance for me compared to the music.

Rand Cabus

Obviously Stig, you don’t get it. But that’s OK. Stick with your digital convenience, we’ll enjoy our vinyl. I actually have (3) Airport Extremes and (4) turntables through out the house. But I enjoy putting on record and listening to every song the band wrote. Again not for everyone…

Karen

Also, I don’t know what’s available these days, but record collectors wanted every version of singles and albums. Some had different versions for different countries so they wanted all the imports. I remember we all got excited if someone got hold of a picture disc. Memories 🙂

Yampster

As someone who listens to everything through two NHS hearing aids manufactured and supplied by the lowest bidder, I can confirm that both sides of this argument are talking bollocks. There are no crackles or pops in my world 😉

Karen

What about snaps?

Yampster

Never heard of ’em

Mpaster68

I never will forget the first time I fired up my old LP record player and played an album for my kids (The Byrds). They were astounded by the sound quality. You also may recall that many albums opened like a book and had lots of great photos and stuff on the inside covers.

The Real Stig

“With vinyl there was a very real ritual. You took the record from its
sleeve, placed it gently on the turntable, let the needle hit the groove
and waited for the crackle and pop. Then it was sweet, sweet analog
music.”

Revisionist rubbish. It was music, interspersed with clicks, cracks, pops, hiss, and the occasional iconic moment of the repeated segment when the needle refused to advance and the passage repeated ad-infinitum due to that dirty great scratch caused when the cat decided the tone arm was prey to be played with – stuck record, stuck record, stuck record, stuck record…

If you actually wanted to listen to the music and not the imperfections of the medium, you had to first carefully zap the disc with an anti-static gun, then get the carbon fiber brush and using a masterful technique channeling a lot of zen, you would carefully place the brush on the rotating record’s surface, holding it steady with just the barest of contact pressure, and watch the white line of dust, coke if you were rich, cat hair and whatnot pile up along the brush. Then you would carefully and slowly sweep the brush in towards the center, trying all the while not to lose your filthy payload. Wipe the brush on the furniture then repeat a couple more times. Then finally, you would expectantly lower the needle to the beginning of the groove, take your seat and then marvel at how even with your best impression of obsessive-compulsive behaviour, there was still crap in the grooves giving you clicks, cracks, pops, and a bit of music thrown in just to taunt you with what might have been.

F-that, you are welcome to it. Don’t miss it in the slightest, neither did the vast majority of people who gave vinyl the flick and bought CD’s instead. Millions of people had a choice. If they had found the sound and ritual from CDs to be inferior they would have stuck with vinyl and CDs would have gone the way of the elcassette and the video laser disc.

“It is this author’s humble opinion that…”

That, sunshine, is what’s called humbug. Shut your eyes and bend over, I have a present for you I just know you are going to love…

And at the end of the day, an iPhone will sound better than that and all it’s overpriced brethren.

Brad Conrad

It took a very long time for CDs to reach the anything near the quality of vinyl. If you have an old CD from their first decade give it a listen. It sounds only a little better than one of those early mp3s. They got the bit to frequency assignment all wrong and were using far too little of the available bits to describe the high end and too much to wasted in the low end. Classical music fans liked CDs because of the low noise floor on all digital recordings so the quiet passages were really quiet.

At one record store where I bought music they would, for an extra 25 cents, clean the factory dust off your record with this record shampooing vacuum machine and give you an anti static sleeve. You did this in store right after buying the album. I still have those records and 30 years later there is not a crackle or pop on one of them.
I wont argue the convenience of digital medium and the configurability of the players. That has its place for sure, but there is value in listening to an record all the way through in order and, all things being equal, the sound quality of vinyl is undeniably better.

Karen

I have New Order’s Temptation on 12″ vinyl and, I’m no sound quality expert, but it sounds far, far better than the version on a compilation CD I bought.

Brad Conrad

12″ singles had wider grooves and played at 45rpm thus upping the sound quality that much more.

Karen

With vinyl, you listened to every track because it was easier than keep getting up to move the needle.

I found that a lot of the songs I didn’t like at first grew on me. These days I would just skip to the next one without persevering.

The Real Stig

Absolutely.

Being forced to listen to an album in toto and in sequence gets old. I recently bought an Apple Airport Extreme. It is plugged into my HiFi and I can stream my music losslessly from my Laptop to the HiFi and I can control the volume from the Laptop. I can have playlists for different occasions or moods, have tracks played back randomly, I can tune in to Internet radio stations and have those streamed to the HiFi. The convenience and flexibility of this is terrific.

The only thing vinyl had going for it was the size of the album art – something I really don’t miss as it was peripheral and of low importance for me compared to the music.

Rand Cabus

Obviously Stig, you don’t get it. But that’s OK. Stick with your digital convenience, we’ll enjoy our vinyl. I actually have (3) Airport Extremes and (4) turntables through out the house. But I enjoy putting on record and listening to every song the band wrote. Again not for everyone…

Karen

Also, I don’t know what’s available these days, but record collectors wanted every version of singles and albums. Some had different versions for different countries so they wanted all the imports. I remember we all got excited if someone got hold of a picture disc. Memories 🙂

Yampster

As someone who listens to everything through two NHS hearing aids manufactured and supplied by the lowest bidder, I can confirm that both sides of this argument are talking bollocks. There are no crackles or pops in my world 😉

Karen

What about snaps?

Yampster

Never heard of ’em

Mpaster68

I never will forget the first time I fired up my old LP record player and played an album for my kids (The Byrds). They were astounded by the sound quality. You also may recall that many albums opened like a book and had lots of great photos and stuff on the inside covers.

The Real Stig

“With vinyl there was a very real ritual. You took the record from its
sleeve, placed it gently on the turntable, let the needle hit the groove
and waited for the crackle and pop. Then it was sweet, sweet analog
music.”

Revisionist rubbish. It was music, interspersed with clicks, cracks, pops, hiss, and the occasional iconic moment of the repeated segment when the needle refused to advance and the passage repeated ad-infinitum due to that dirty great scratch caused when the cat decided the tone arm was prey to be played with – stuck record, stuck record, stuck record, stuck record…

If you actually wanted to listen to the music and not the imperfections of the medium, you had to first carefully zap the disc with an anti-static gun, then get the carbon fiber brush and using a masterful technique channeling a lot of zen, you would carefully place the brush on the rotating record’s surface, holding it steady with just the barest of contact pressure, and watch the white line of dust, coke if you were rich, cat hair and whatnot pile up along the brush. Then you would carefully and slowly sweep the brush in towards the center, trying all the while not to lose your filthy payload. Wipe the brush on the furniture then repeat a couple more times. Then finally, you would expectantly lower the needle to the beginning of the groove, take your seat and then marvel at how even with your best impression of obsessive-compulsive behaviour, there was still crap in the grooves giving you clicks, cracks, pops, and a bit of music thrown in just to taunt you with what might have been.

F-that, you are welcome to it. Don’t miss it in the slightest, neither did the vast majority of people who gave vinyl the flick and bought CD’s instead. Millions of people had a choice. If they had found the sound and ritual from CDs to be inferior they would have stuck with vinyl and CDs would have gone the way of the elcassette and the video laser disc.

“It is this author’s humble opinion that…”

That, sunshine, is what’s called humbug. Shut your eyes and bend over, I have a present for you I just know you are going to love…

And at the end of the day, an iPhone will sound better than that and all it’s overpriced brethren.

Brad Conrad

It took a very long time for CDs to reach the anything near the quality of vinyl. If you have an old CD from their first decade give it a listen. It sounds only a little better than one of those early mp3s. They got the bit to frequency assignment all wrong and were using far too little of the available bits to describe the high end and too much to wasted in the low end. Classical music fans liked CDs because of the low noise floor on all digital recordings so the quiet passages were really quiet.

At one record store where I bought music they would, for an extra 25 cents, clean the factory dust off your record with this record shampooing vacuum machine and give you an anti static sleeve. You did this in store right after buying the album. I still have those records and 30 years later there is not a crackle or pop on one of them.
I wont argue the convenience of digital medium and the configurability of the players. That has its place for sure, but there is value in listening to an record all the way through in order and, all things being equal, the sound quality of vinyl is undeniably better.

Karen

I have New Order’s Temptation on 12″ vinyl and, I’m no sound quality expert, but it sounds far, far better than the version on a compilation CD I bought.

Brad Conrad

12″ singles had wider grooves and played at 45rpm thus upping the sound quality that much more.

Karen

With vinyl, you listened to every track because it was easier than keep getting up to move the needle.

I found that a lot of the songs I didn’t like at first grew on me. These days I would just skip to the next one without persevering.

The Real Stig

Absolutely.

Being forced to listen to an album in toto and in sequence gets old. I recently bought an Apple Airport Extreme. It is plugged into my HiFi and I can stream my music losslessly from my Laptop to the HiFi and I can control the volume from the Laptop. I can have playlists for different occasions or moods, have tracks played back randomly, I can tune in to Internet radio stations and have those streamed to the HiFi. The convenience and flexibility of this is terrific.

The only thing vinyl had going for it was the size of the album art – something I really don’t miss as it was peripheral and of low importance for me compared to the music.

Rand Cabus

Obviously Stig, you don’t get it. But that’s OK. Stick with your digital convenience, we’ll enjoy our vinyl. I actually have (3) Airport Extremes and (4) turntables through out the house. But I enjoy putting on record and listening to every song the band wrote. Again not for everyone…

Karen

Also, I don’t know what’s available these days, but record collectors wanted every version of singles and albums. Some had different versions for different countries so they wanted all the imports. I remember we all got excited if someone got hold of a picture disc. Memories 🙂

Yampster

As someone who listens to everything through two NHS hearing aids manufactured and supplied by the lowest bidder, I can confirm that both sides of this argument are talking bollocks. There are no crackles or pops in my world 😉

Karen

What about snaps?

Yampster

Never heard of ’em

Mpaster68

I never will forget the first time I fired up my old LP record player and played an album for my kids (The Byrds). They were astounded by the sound quality. You also may recall that many albums opened like a book and had lots of great photos and stuff on the inside covers.

The Real Stig

“With vinyl there was a very real ritual. You took the record from its
sleeve, placed it gently on the turntable, let the needle hit the groove
and waited for the crackle and pop. Then it was sweet, sweet analog
music.”

Revisionist rubbish. It was music, interspersed with clicks, cracks, pops, hiss, and the occasional iconic moment of the repeated segment when the needle refused to advance and the passage repeated ad-infinitum due to that dirty great scratch caused when the cat decided the tone arm was prey to be played with – stuck record, stuck record, stuck record, stuck record…

If you actually wanted to listen to the music and not the imperfections of the medium, you had to first carefully zap the disc with an anti-static gun, then get the carbon fiber brush and using a masterful technique channeling a lot of zen, you would carefully place the brush on the rotating record’s surface, holding it steady with just the barest of contact pressure, and watch the white line of dust, coke if you were rich, cat hair and whatnot pile up along the brush. Then you would carefully and slowly sweep the brush in towards the center, trying all the while not to lose your filthy payload. Wipe the brush on the furniture then repeat a couple more times. Then finally, you would expectantly lower the needle to the beginning of the groove, take your seat and then marvel at how even with your best impression of obsessive-compulsive behaviour, there was still crap in the grooves giving you clicks, cracks, pops, and a bit of music thrown in just to taunt you with what might have been.

F-that, you are welcome to it. Don’t miss it in the slightest, neither did the vast majority of people who gave vinyl the flick and bought CD’s instead. Millions of people had a choice. If they had found the sound and ritual from CDs to be inferior they would have stuck with vinyl and CDs would have gone the way of the elcassette and the video laser disc.

“It is this author’s humble opinion that…”

That, sunshine, is what’s called humbug. Shut your eyes and bend over, I have a present for you I just know you are going to love…

And at the end of the day, an iPhone will sound better than that and all it’s overpriced brethren.

Brad Conrad

It took a very long time for CDs to reach the anything near the quality of vinyl. If you have an old CD from their first decade give it a listen. It sounds only a little better than one of those early mp3s. They got the bit to frequency assignment all wrong and were using far too little of the available bits to describe the high end and too much to wasted in the low end. Classical music fans liked CDs because of the low noise floor on all digital recordings so the quiet passages were really quiet.

At one record store where I bought music they would, for an extra 25 cents, clean the factory dust off your record with this record shampooing vacuum machine and give you an anti static sleeve. You did this in store right after buying the album. I still have those records and 30 years later there is not a crackle or pop on one of them.
I wont argue the convenience of digital medium and the configurability of the players. That has its place for sure, but there is value in listening to an record all the way through in order and, all things being equal, the sound quality of vinyl is undeniably better.

Karen

I have New Order’s Temptation on 12″ vinyl and, I’m no sound quality expert, but it sounds far, far better than the version on a compilation CD I bought.

Brad Conrad

12″ singles had wider grooves and played at 45rpm thus upping the sound quality that much more.

Karen

With vinyl, you listened to every track because it was easier than keep getting up to move the needle.

I found that a lot of the songs I didn’t like at first grew on me. These days I would just skip to the next one without persevering.

The Real Stig

Absolutely.

Being forced to listen to an album in toto and in sequence gets old. I recently bought an Apple Airport Extreme. It is plugged into my HiFi and I can stream my music losslessly from my Laptop to the HiFi and I can control the volume from the Laptop. I can have playlists for different occasions or moods, have tracks played back randomly, I can tune in to Internet radio stations and have those streamed to the HiFi. The convenience and flexibility of this is terrific.

The only thing vinyl had going for it was the size of the album art – something I really don’t miss as it was peripheral and of low importance for me compared to the music.

Rand Cabus

Obviously Stig, you don’t get it. But that’s OK. Stick with your digital convenience, we’ll enjoy our vinyl. I actually have (3) Airport Extremes and (4) turntables through out the house. But I enjoy putting on record and listening to every song the band wrote. Again not for everyone…

Karen

Also, I don’t know what’s available these days, but record collectors wanted every version of singles and albums. Some had different versions for different countries so they wanted all the imports. I remember we all got excited if someone got hold of a picture disc. Memories 🙂

Yampster

As someone who listens to everything through two NHS hearing aids manufactured and supplied by the lowest bidder, I can confirm that both sides of this argument are talking bollocks. There are no crackles or pops in my world 😉

Karen

What about snaps?

Yampster

Never heard of ’em

Mpaster68

I never will forget the first time I fired up my old LP record player and played an album for my kids (The Byrds). They were astounded by the sound quality. You also may recall that many albums opened like a book and had lots of great photos and stuff on the inside covers.

The Real Stig

“With vinyl there was a very real ritual. You took the record from its
sleeve, placed it gently on the turntable, let the needle hit the groove
and waited for the crackle and pop. Then it was sweet, sweet analog
music.”

Revisionist rubbish. It was music, interspersed with clicks, cracks, pops, hiss, and the occasional iconic moment of the repeated segment when the needle refused to advance and the passage repeated ad-infinitum due to that dirty great scratch caused when the cat decided the tone arm was prey to be played with – stuck record, stuck record, stuck record, stuck record…

If you actually wanted to listen to the music and not the imperfections of the medium, you had to first carefully zap the disc with an anti-static gun, then get the carbon fiber brush and using a masterful technique channeling a lot of zen, you would carefully place the brush on the rotating record’s surface, holding it steady with just the barest of contact pressure, and watch the white line of dust, coke if you were rich, cat hair and whatnot pile up along the brush. Then you would carefully and slowly sweep the brush in towards the center, trying all the while not to lose your filthy payload. Wipe the brush on the furniture then repeat a couple more times. Then finally, you would expectantly lower the needle to the beginning of the groove, take your seat and then marvel at how even with your best impression of obsessive-compulsive behaviour, there was still crap in the grooves giving you clicks, cracks, pops, and a bit of music thrown in just to taunt you with what might have been.

F-that, you are welcome to it. Don’t miss it in the slightest, neither did the vast majority of people who gave vinyl the flick and bought CD’s instead. Millions of people had a choice. If they had found the sound and ritual from CDs to be inferior they would have stuck with vinyl and CDs would have gone the way of the elcassette and the video laser disc.

“It is this author’s humble opinion that…”

That, sunshine, is what’s called humbug. Shut your eyes and bend over, I have a present for you I just know you are going to love…

And at the end of the day, an iPhone will sound better than that and all it’s overpriced brethren.

Brad Conrad

It took a very long time for CDs to reach the anything near the quality of vinyl. If you have an old CD from their first decade give it a listen. It sounds only a little better than one of those early mp3s. They got the bit to frequency assignment all wrong and were using far too little of the available bits to describe the high end and too much to wasted in the low end. Classical music fans liked CDs because of the low noise floor on all digital recordings so the quiet passages were really quiet.

At one record store where I bought music they would, for an extra 25 cents, clean the factory dust off your record with this record shampooing vacuum machine and give you an anti static sleeve. You did this in store right after buying the album. I still have those records and 30 years later there is not a crackle or pop on one of them.
I wont argue the convenience of digital medium and the configurability of the players. That has its place for sure, but there is value in listening to an record all the way through in order and, all things being equal, the sound quality of vinyl is undeniably better.

Karen

I have New Order’s Temptation on 12″ vinyl and, I’m no sound quality expert, but it sounds far, far better than the version on a compilation CD I bought.

Brad Conrad

12″ singles had wider grooves and played at 45rpm thus upping the sound quality that much more.

Karen

With vinyl, you listened to every track because it was easier than keep getting up to move the needle.

I found that a lot of the songs I didn’t like at first grew on me. These days I would just skip to the next one without persevering.

The Real Stig

Absolutely.

Being forced to listen to an album in toto and in sequence gets old. I recently bought an Apple Airport Extreme. It is plugged into my HiFi and I can stream my music losslessly from my Laptop to the HiFi and I can control the volume from the Laptop. I can have playlists for different occasions or moods, have tracks played back randomly, I can tune in to Internet radio stations and have those streamed to the HiFi. The convenience and flexibility of this is terrific.

The only thing vinyl had going for it was the size of the album art – something I really don’t miss as it was peripheral and of low importance for me compared to the music.

Rand Cabus

Obviously Stig, you don’t get it. But that’s OK. Stick with your digital convenience, we’ll enjoy our vinyl. I actually have (3) Airport Extremes and (4) turntables through out the house. But I enjoy putting on record and listening to every song the band wrote. Again not for everyone…

Karen

Also, I don’t know what’s available these days, but record collectors wanted every version of singles and albums. Some had different versions for different countries so they wanted all the imports. I remember we all got excited if someone got hold of a picture disc. Memories 🙂

Yampster

As someone who listens to everything through two NHS hearing aids manufactured and supplied by the lowest bidder, I can confirm that both sides of this argument are talking bollocks. There are no crackles or pops in my world 😉

Karen

What about snaps?

Yampster

Never heard of ’em

Mpaster68

I never will forget the first time I fired up my old LP record player and played an album for my kids (The Byrds). They were astounded by the sound quality. You also may recall that many albums opened like a book and had lots of great photos and stuff on the inside covers.

The Real Stig

“With vinyl there was a very real ritual. You took the record from its
sleeve, placed it gently on the turntable, let the needle hit the groove
and waited for the crackle and pop. Then it was sweet, sweet analog
music.”

Revisionist rubbish. It was music, interspersed with clicks, cracks, pops, hiss, and the occasional iconic moment of the repeated segment when the needle refused to advance and the passage repeated ad-infinitum due to that dirty great scratch caused when the cat decided the tone arm was prey to be played with – stuck record, stuck record, stuck record, stuck record…

If you actually wanted to listen to the music and not the imperfections of the medium, you had to first carefully zap the disc with an anti-static gun, then get the carbon fiber brush and using a masterful technique channeling a lot of zen, you would carefully place the brush on the rotating record’s surface, holding it steady with just the barest of contact pressure, and watch the white line of dust, coke if you were rich, cat hair and whatnot pile up along the brush. Then you would carefully and slowly sweep the brush in towards the center, trying all the while not to lose your filthy payload. Wipe the brush on the furniture then repeat a couple more times. Then finally, you would expectantly lower the needle to the beginning of the groove, take your seat and then marvel at how even with your best impression of obsessive-compulsive behaviour, there was still crap in the grooves giving you clicks, cracks, pops, and a bit of music thrown in just to taunt you with what might have been.

F-that, you are welcome to it. Don’t miss it in the slightest, neither did the vast majority of people who gave vinyl the flick and bought CD’s instead. Millions of people had a choice. If they had found the sound and ritual from CDs to be inferior they would have stuck with vinyl and CDs would have gone the way of the elcassette and the video laser disc.

“It is this author’s humble opinion that…”

That, sunshine, is what’s called humbug. Shut your eyes and bend over, I have a present for you I just know you are going to love…

And at the end of the day, an iPhone will sound better than that and all it’s overpriced brethren.

Brad Conrad

It took a very long time for CDs to reach the anything near the quality of vinyl. If you have an old CD from their first decade give it a listen. It sounds only a little better than one of those early mp3s. They got the bit to frequency assignment all wrong and were using far too little of the available bits to describe the high end and too much to wasted in the low end. Classical music fans liked CDs because of the low noise floor on all digital recordings so the quiet passages were really quiet.

At one record store where I bought music they would, for an extra 25 cents, clean the factory dust off your record with this record shampooing vacuum machine and give you an anti static sleeve. You did this in store right after buying the album. I still have those records and 30 years later there is not a crackle or pop on one of them.
I wont argue the convenience of digital medium and the configurability of the players. That has its place for sure, but there is value in listening to an record all the way through in order and, all things being equal, the sound quality of vinyl is undeniably better.

Karen

I have New Order’s Temptation on 12″ vinyl and, I’m no sound quality expert, but it sounds far, far better than the version on a compilation CD I bought.

Brad Conrad

12″ singles had wider grooves and played at 45rpm thus upping the sound quality that much more.

Karen

With vinyl, you listened to every track because it was easier than keep getting up to move the needle.

I found that a lot of the songs I didn’t like at first grew on me. These days I would just skip to the next one without persevering.

The Real Stig

Absolutely.

Being forced to listen to an album in toto and in sequence gets old. I recently bought an Apple Airport Extreme. It is plugged into my HiFi and I can stream my music losslessly from my Laptop to the HiFi and I can control the volume from the Laptop. I can have playlists for different occasions or moods, have tracks played back randomly, I can tune in to Internet radio stations and have those streamed to the HiFi. The convenience and flexibility of this is terrific.

The only thing vinyl had going for it was the size of the album art – something I really don’t miss as it was peripheral and of low importance for me compared to the music.

Rand Cabus

Obviously Stig, you don’t get it. But that’s OK. Stick with your digital convenience, we’ll enjoy our vinyl. I actually have (3) Airport Extremes and (4) turntables through out the house. But I enjoy putting on record and listening to every song the band wrote. Again not for everyone…

Karen

Also, I don’t know what’s available these days, but record collectors wanted every version of singles and albums. Some had different versions for different countries so they wanted all the imports. I remember we all got excited if someone got hold of a picture disc. Memories 🙂

Yampster

As someone who listens to everything through two NHS hearing aids manufactured and supplied by the lowest bidder, I can confirm that both sides of this argument are talking bollocks. There are no crackles or pops in my world 😉

Karen

What about snaps?

Yampster

Never heard of ’em

Mpaster68

I never will forget the first time I fired up my old LP record player and played an album for my kids (The Byrds). They were astounded by the sound quality. You also may recall that many albums opened like a book and had lots of great photos and stuff on the inside covers.

The Real Stig

“With vinyl there was a very real ritual. You took the record from its
sleeve, placed it gently on the turntable, let the needle hit the groove
and waited for the crackle and pop. Then it was sweet, sweet analog
music.”

Revisionist rubbish. It was music, interspersed with clicks, cracks, pops, hiss, and the occasional iconic moment of the repeated segment when the needle refused to advance and the passage repeated ad-infinitum due to that dirty great scratch caused when the cat decided the tone arm was prey to be played with – stuck record, stuck record, stuck record, stuck record…

If you actually wanted to listen to the music and not the imperfections of the medium, you had to first carefully zap the disc with an anti-static gun, then get the carbon fiber brush and using a masterful technique channeling a lot of zen, you would carefully place the brush on the rotating record’s surface, holding it steady with just the barest of contact pressure, and watch the white line of dust, coke if you were rich, cat hair and whatnot pile up along the brush. Then you would carefully and slowly sweep the brush in towards the center, trying all the while not to lose your filthy payload. Wipe the brush on the furniture then repeat a couple more times. Then finally, you would expectantly lower the needle to the beginning of the groove, take your seat and then marvel at how even with your best impression of obsessive-compulsive behaviour, there was still crap in the grooves giving you clicks, cracks, pops, and a bit of music thrown in just to taunt you with what might have been.

F-that, you are welcome to it. Don’t miss it in the slightest, neither did the vast majority of people who gave vinyl the flick and bought CD’s instead. Millions of people had a choice. If they had found the sound and ritual from CDs to be inferior they would have stuck with vinyl and CDs would have gone the way of the elcassette and the video laser disc.

“It is this author’s humble opinion that…”

That, sunshine, is what’s called humbug. Shut your eyes and bend over, I have a present for you I just know you are going to love…

And at the end of the day, an iPhone will sound better than that and all it’s overpriced brethren.

Brad Conrad

It took a very long time for CDs to reach the anything near the quality of vinyl. If you have an old CD from their first decade give it a listen. It sounds only a little better than one of those early mp3s. They got the bit to frequency assignment all wrong and were using far too little of the available bits to describe the high end and too much to wasted in the low end. Classical music fans liked CDs because of the low noise floor on all digital recordings so the quiet passages were really quiet.

At one record store where I bought music they would, for an extra 25 cents, clean the factory dust off your record with this record shampooing vacuum machine and give you an anti static sleeve. You did this in store right after buying the album. I still have those records and 30 years later there is not a crackle or pop on one of them.
I wont argue the convenience of digital medium and the configurability of the players. That has its place for sure, but there is value in listening to an record all the way through in order and, all things being equal, the sound quality of vinyl is undeniably better.

Karen

I have New Order’s Temptation on 12″ vinyl and, I’m no sound quality expert, but it sounds far, far better than the version on a compilation CD I bought.

Brad Conrad

12″ singles had wider grooves and played at 45rpm thus upping the sound quality that much more.

Karen

With vinyl, you listened to every track because it was easier than keep getting up to move the needle.

I found that a lot of the songs I didn’t like at first grew on me. These days I would just skip to the next one without persevering.

The Real Stig

Absolutely.

Being forced to listen to an album in toto and in sequence gets old. I recently bought an Apple Airport Extreme. It is plugged into my HiFi and I can stream my music losslessly from my Laptop to the HiFi and I can control the volume from the Laptop. I can have playlists for different occasions or moods, have tracks played back randomly, I can tune in to Internet radio stations and have those streamed to the HiFi. The convenience and flexibility of this is terrific.

The only thing vinyl had going for it was the size of the album art – something I really don’t miss as it was peripheral and of low importance for me compared to the music.

Rand Cabus

Obviously Stig, you don’t get it. But that’s OK. Stick with your digital convenience, we’ll enjoy our vinyl. I actually have (3) Airport Extremes and (4) turntables through out the house. But I enjoy putting on record and listening to every song the band wrote. Again not for everyone…

Karen

Also, I don’t know what’s available these days, but record collectors wanted every version of singles and albums. Some had different versions for different countries so they wanted all the imports. I remember we all got excited if someone got hold of a picture disc. Memories 🙂

Yampster

As someone who listens to everything through two NHS hearing aids manufactured and supplied by the lowest bidder, I can confirm that both sides of this argument are talking bollocks. There are no crackles or pops in my world 😉

Karen

What about snaps?

Yampster

Never heard of ’em

Mpaster68

I never will forget the first time I fired up my old LP record player and played an album for my kids (The Byrds). They were astounded by the sound quality. You also may recall that many albums opened like a book and had lots of great photos and stuff on the inside covers.

The Real Stig

“With vinyl there was a very real ritual. You took the record from its
sleeve, placed it gently on the turntable, let the needle hit the groove
and waited for the crackle and pop. Then it was sweet, sweet analog
music.”

Revisionist rubbish. It was music, interspersed with clicks, cracks, pops, hiss, and the occasional iconic moment of the repeated segment when the needle refused to advance and the passage repeated ad-infinitum due to that dirty great scratch caused when the cat decided the tone arm was prey to be played with – stuck record, stuck record, stuck record, stuck record…

If you actually wanted to listen to the music and not the imperfections of the medium, you had to first carefully zap the disc with an anti-static gun, then get the carbon fiber brush and using a masterful technique channeling a lot of zen, you would carefully place the brush on the rotating record’s surface, holding it steady with just the barest of contact pressure, and watch the white line of dust, coke if you were rich, cat hair and whatnot pile up along the brush. Then you would carefully and slowly sweep the brush in towards the center, trying all the while not to lose your filthy payload. Wipe the brush on the furniture then repeat a couple more times. Then finally, you would expectantly lower the needle to the beginning of the groove, take your seat and then marvel at how even with your best impression of obsessive-compulsive behaviour, there was still crap in the grooves giving you clicks, cracks, pops, and a bit of music thrown in just to taunt you with what might have been.

F-that, you are welcome to it. Don’t miss it in the slightest, neither did the vast majority of people who gave vinyl the flick and bought CD’s instead. Millions of people had a choice. If they had found the sound and ritual from CDs to be inferior they would have stuck with vinyl and CDs would have gone the way of the elcassette and the video laser disc.

“It is this author’s humble opinion that…”

That, sunshine, is what’s called humbug. Shut your eyes and bend over, I have a present for you I just know you are going to love…

And at the end of the day, an iPhone will sound better than that and all it’s overpriced brethren.

Brad Conrad

It took a very long time for CDs to reach the anything near the quality of vinyl. If you have an old CD from their first decade give it a listen. It sounds only a little better than one of those early mp3s. They got the bit to frequency assignment all wrong and were using far too little of the available bits to describe the high end and too much to wasted in the low end. Classical music fans liked CDs because of the low noise floor on all digital recordings so the quiet passages were really quiet.

At one record store where I bought music they would, for an extra 25 cents, clean the factory dust off your record with this record shampooing vacuum machine and give you an anti static sleeve. You did this in store right after buying the album. I still have those records and 30 years later there is not a crackle or pop on one of them.
I wont argue the convenience of digital medium and the configurability of the players. That has its place for sure, but there is value in listening to an record all the way through in order and, all things being equal, the sound quality of vinyl is undeniably better.

Karen

I have New Order’s Temptation on 12″ vinyl and, I’m no sound quality expert, but it sounds far, far better than the version on a compilation CD I bought.

Brad Conrad

12″ singles had wider grooves and played at 45rpm thus upping the sound quality that much more.

Karen

With vinyl, you listened to every track because it was easier than keep getting up to move the needle.

I found that a lot of the songs I didn’t like at first grew on me. These days I would just skip to the next one without persevering.

The Real Stig

Absolutely.

Being forced to listen to an album in toto and in sequence gets old. I recently bought an Apple Airport Extreme. It is plugged into my HiFi and I can stream my music losslessly from my Laptop to the HiFi and I can control the volume from the Laptop. I can have playlists for different occasions or moods, have tracks played back randomly, I can tune in to Internet radio stations and have those streamed to the HiFi. The convenience and flexibility of this is terrific.

The only thing vinyl had going for it was the size of the album art – something I really don’t miss as it was peripheral and of low importance for me compared to the music.

Rand Cabus

Obviously Stig, you don’t get it. But that’s OK. Stick with your digital convenience, we’ll enjoy our vinyl. I actually have (3) Airport Extremes and (4) turntables through out the house. But I enjoy putting on record and listening to every song the band wrote. Again not for everyone…

Karen

Also, I don’t know what’s available these days, but record collectors wanted every version of singles and albums. Some had different versions for different countries so they wanted all the imports. I remember we all got excited if someone got hold of a picture disc. Memories 🙂

Yampster

As someone who listens to everything through two NHS hearing aids manufactured and supplied by the lowest bidder, I can confirm that both sides of this argument are talking bollocks. There are no crackles or pops in my world 😉

Karen

What about snaps?

Yampster

Never heard of ’em

Mpaster68

I never will forget the first time I fired up my old LP record player and played an album for my kids (The Byrds). They were astounded by the sound quality. You also may recall that many albums opened like a book and had lots of great photos and stuff on the inside covers.

The Real Stig

“With vinyl there was a very real ritual. You took the record from its
sleeve, placed it gently on the turntable, let the needle hit the groove
and waited for the crackle and pop. Then it was sweet, sweet analog
music.”

Revisionist rubbish. It was music, interspersed with clicks, cracks, pops, hiss, and the occasional iconic moment of the repeated segment when the needle refused to advance and the passage repeated ad-infinitum due to that dirty great scratch caused when the cat decided the tone arm was prey to be played with – stuck record, stuck record, stuck record, stuck record…

If you actually wanted to listen to the music and not the imperfections of the medium, you had to first carefully zap the disc with an anti-static gun, then get the carbon fiber brush and using a masterful technique channeling a lot of zen, you would carefully place the brush on the rotating record’s surface, holding it steady with just the barest of contact pressure, and watch the white line of dust, coke if you were rich, cat hair and whatnot pile up along the brush. Then you would carefully and slowly sweep the brush in towards the center, trying all the while not to lose your filthy payload. Wipe the brush on the furniture then repeat a couple more times. Then finally, you would expectantly lower the needle to the beginning of the groove, take your seat and then marvel at how even with your best impression of obsessive-compulsive behaviour, there was still crap in the grooves giving you clicks, cracks, pops, and a bit of music thrown in just to taunt you with what might have been.

F-that, you are welcome to it. Don’t miss it in the slightest, neither did the vast majority of people who gave vinyl the flick and bought CD’s instead. Millions of people had a choice. If they had found the sound and ritual from CDs to be inferior they would have stuck with vinyl and CDs would have gone the way of the elcassette and the video laser disc.

“It is this author’s humble opinion that…”

That, sunshine, is what’s called humbug. Shut your eyes and bend over, I have a present for you I just know you are going to love…

And at the end of the day, an iPhone will sound better than that and all it’s overpriced brethren.

Brad Conrad

It took a very long time for CDs to reach the anything near the quality of vinyl. If you have an old CD from their first decade give it a listen. It sounds only a little better than one of those early mp3s. They got the bit to frequency assignment all wrong and were using far too little of the available bits to describe the high end and too much to wasted in the low end. Classical music fans liked CDs because of the low noise floor on all digital recordings so the quiet passages were really quiet.

At one record store where I bought music they would, for an extra 25 cents, clean the factory dust off your record with this record shampooing vacuum machine and give you an anti static sleeve. You did this in store right after buying the album. I still have those records and 30 years later there is not a crackle or pop on one of them.
I wont argue the convenience of digital medium and the configurability of the players. That has its place for sure, but there is value in listening to an record all the way through in order and, all things being equal, the sound quality of vinyl is undeniably better.

Karen

I have New Order’s Temptation on 12″ vinyl and, I’m no sound quality expert, but it sounds far, far better than the version on a compilation CD I bought.

Brad Conrad

12″ singles had wider grooves and played at 45rpm thus upping the sound quality that much more.

Karen

With vinyl, you listened to every track because it was easier than keep getting up to move the needle.

I found that a lot of the songs I didn’t like at first grew on me. These days I would just skip to the next one without persevering.

The Real Stig

Absolutely.

Being forced to listen to an album in toto and in sequence gets old. I recently bought an Apple Airport Extreme. It is plugged into my HiFi and I can stream my music losslessly from my Laptop to the HiFi and I can control the volume from the Laptop. I can have playlists for different occasions or moods, have tracks played back randomly, I can tune in to Internet radio stations and have those streamed to the HiFi. The convenience and flexibility of this is terrific.

The only thing vinyl had going for it was the size of the album art – something I really don’t miss as it was peripheral and of low importance for me compared to the music.

Rand Cabus

Obviously Stig, you don’t get it. But that’s OK. Stick with your digital convenience, we’ll enjoy our vinyl. I actually have (3) Airport Extremes and (4) turntables through out the house. But I enjoy putting on record and listening to every song the band wrote. Again not for everyone…

Karen

Also, I don’t know what’s available these days, but record collectors wanted every version of singles and albums. Some had different versions for different countries so they wanted all the imports. I remember we all got excited if someone got hold of a picture disc. Memories 🙂

Yampster

As someone who listens to everything through two NHS hearing aids manufactured and supplied by the lowest bidder, I can confirm that both sides of this argument are talking bollocks. There are no crackles or pops in my world 😉

Karen

What about snaps?

Yampster

Never heard of ’em

Mpaster68

I never will forget the first time I fired up my old LP record player and played an album for my kids (The Byrds). They were astounded by the sound quality. You also may recall that many albums opened like a book and had lots of great photos and stuff on the inside covers.

The Real Stig

“With vinyl there was a very real ritual. You took the record from its
sleeve, placed it gently on the turntable, let the needle hit the groove
and waited for the crackle and pop. Then it was sweet, sweet analog
music.”

Revisionist rubbish. It was music, interspersed with clicks, cracks, pops, hiss, and the occasional iconic moment of the repeated segment when the needle refused to advance and the passage repeated ad-infinitum due to that dirty great scratch caused when the cat decided the tone arm was prey to be played with – stuck record, stuck record, stuck record, stuck record…

If you actually wanted to listen to the music and not the imperfections of the medium, you had to first carefully zap the disc with an anti-static gun, then get the carbon fiber brush and using a masterful technique channeling a lot of zen, you would carefully place the brush on the rotating record’s surface, holding it steady with just the barest of contact pressure, and watch the white line of dust, coke if you were rich, cat hair and whatnot pile up along the brush. Then you would carefully and slowly sweep the brush in towards the center, trying all the while not to lose your filthy payload. Wipe the brush on the furniture then repeat a couple more times. Then finally, you would expectantly lower the needle to the beginning of the groove, take your seat and then marvel at how even with your best impression of obsessive-compulsive behaviour, there was still crap in the grooves giving you clicks, cracks, pops, and a bit of music thrown in just to taunt you with what might have been.

F-that, you are welcome to it. Don’t miss it in the slightest, neither did the vast majority of people who gave vinyl the flick and bought CD’s instead. Millions of people had a choice. If they had found the sound and ritual from CDs to be inferior they would have stuck with vinyl and CDs would have gone the way of the elcassette and the video laser disc.

“It is this author’s humble opinion that…”

That, sunshine, is what’s called humbug. Shut your eyes and bend over, I have a present for you I just know you are going to love…

And at the end of the day, an iPhone will sound better than that and all it’s overpriced brethren.

Brad Conrad

It took a very long time for CDs to reach the anything near the quality of vinyl. If you have an old CD from their first decade give it a listen. It sounds only a little better than one of those early mp3s. They got the bit to frequency assignment all wrong and were using far too little of the available bits to describe the high end and too much to wasted in the low end. Classical music fans liked CDs because of the low noise floor on all digital recordings so the quiet passages were really quiet.

At one record store where I bought music they would, for an extra 25 cents, clean the factory dust off your record with this record shampooing vacuum machine and give you an anti static sleeve. You did this in store right after buying the album. I still have those records and 30 years later there is not a crackle or pop on one of them.
I wont argue the convenience of digital medium and the configurability of the players. That has its place for sure, but there is value in listening to an record all the way through in order and, all things being equal, the sound quality of vinyl is undeniably better.

Karen

I have New Order’s Temptation on 12″ vinyl and, I’m no sound quality expert, but it sounds far, far better than the version on a compilation CD I bought.

Brad Conrad

12″ singles had wider grooves and played at 45rpm thus upping the sound quality that much more.

Karen

With vinyl, you listened to every track because it was easier than keep getting up to move the needle.

I found that a lot of the songs I didn’t like at first grew on me. These days I would just skip to the next one without persevering.

The Real Stig

Absolutely.

Being forced to listen to an album in toto and in sequence gets old. I recently bought an Apple Airport Extreme. It is plugged into my HiFi and I can stream my music losslessly from my Laptop to the HiFi and I can control the volume from the Laptop. I can have playlists for different occasions or moods, have tracks played back randomly, I can tune in to Internet radio stations and have those streamed to the HiFi. The convenience and flexibility of this is terrific.

The only thing vinyl had going for it was the size of the album art – something I really don’t miss as it was peripheral and of low importance for me compared to the music.

Rand Cabus

Obviously Stig, you don’t get it. But that’s OK. Stick with your digital convenience, we’ll enjoy our vinyl. I actually have (3) Airport Extremes and (4) turntables through out the house. But I enjoy putting on record and listening to every song the band wrote. Again not for everyone…

Karen

Also, I don’t know what’s available these days, but record collectors wanted every version of singles and albums. Some had different versions for different countries so they wanted all the imports. I remember we all got excited if someone got hold of a picture disc. Memories 🙂

Yampster

As someone who listens to everything through two NHS hearing aids manufactured and supplied by the lowest bidder, I can confirm that both sides of this argument are talking bollocks. There are no crackles or pops in my world 😉

Karen

What about snaps?

Yampster

Never heard of ’em

Mpaster68

I never will forget the first time I fired up my old LP record player and played an album for my kids (The Byrds). They were astounded by the sound quality. You also may recall that many albums opened like a book and had lots of great photos and stuff on the inside covers.